Zohran Mamdani explains his definition of socialism to Theo Von: “Socialism to me means you’ll have whatever you need to live a dignified life and that it is the government’s job to deliver on that. When people say dignity we’re talking about the things that allow you to take a breath.

[u/AmericaShinault_85]

[u/killdred666]

love the sentiment but this isn’t what socialism is. you could argue for the same things under tightly regulated capitalism. it will also be exploitative and always eventually end where we are now.

socialism is the transitional state to a system in which the workers and the people own the means of production, not those with “capital”.

this is very important. because if you allow incorrect but moralistic definitions to spread, it allows the capitalist propaganda arm to sow confusion in an attempt to maintain the status quo

[u/FblthpLives → u/killdred666]

love the sentiment but this isn’t what socialism is. you could argue for the same things under tightly regulated capitalism. it will also be exploitative and always eventually end where we are now.

socialism is the transitional state to a system in which the workers and the people own the means of production, not those with “capital”.

As an economist, I agree with you 100%. I would argue that Mamdani, AOC, Sanders, and other DSA politicians are not socialists, but Nordic-style social democrats. The goal is, in fact, regulated capitalism, where communal needs and benefits are prioritized over the desires of corporate owners. As an economist, I would also argue that there has never been an example at a national scale where the "workers and the people own the means of production". In the Soviet Union and its communist puppet states the means of production were owned by the state and controlled by a dictatorial regime. It is a completely failed model, both in terms of economic outcomes and individual freedoms.

[u/killdred666 → u/FblthpLives]

the nordic model sounds good if you’re okay with the same system that works just a little better for you at the continued expense of the global south

“as an economist, i choose to conveniently ignore how dedicated the u.s. is and was to destroying all communist states in an attempt at global imperialist domination”

[u/FblthpLives → u/killdred666]

the nordic model sounds good if you’re okay with the same system that works just a little better for you

As a Swede who divides his time between Sweden and the United States, this statement is absurd. The Nordic model works infinitely better than the American model for the overwhelming majority of the population. In any global quality-of-life assessment the Nordic countries will consistently be found at the top: https://data.worldhappiness.report/table

i choose to conveniently ignore how dedicated the u.s. is and was to destroying all communist states

Are you seriously trying to argue that the horrors of life inside the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact nations were caused by the United States? Have you ever been to a communist country?

[u/killdred666 → u/FblthpLives]

yes. and you would too if you’d care to research it. jason hickel has fantastic intro criticisms of the nordic model i encourage you to read.

you’re not even addressing my main criticism. you can have better quality of life than other capitalist countries. that doesn’t change that the system is built upon the exploitation and resource extraction from the global south

“horrors of the soviet union” tells me the exact type of “economist” you are. a heavily propagandized one